Bandpass filter and process of fabricating the same

ABSTRACT

A bandpass filter includes a combination of a BAW filter and a patterned planar filter with stubs. The BAW filter is composed of a plurality of piezoelectric resonators to give a specific frequency bandpass, while the planer filter is configured to attenuate frequencies near and outside the bandpass. The resonators are connected in a ladder configuration between a first signal transmission path and a ground. The planar filter includes a strip line formed on a dielectric layer to define a second signal transmission path. The BAW filter and the planar filter are formed on a common substrate with the first and second transmission paths connected to each other. The BAW filter, in combination with the patterned planar filter added with the stub, can improve a deep near-band rejection inherent to the BAW filter, exhibiting an excellent out-of-band rejection over certain adjacent frequency ranges outside of the bandpass, and therefore give a sharp and wide bandpass.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is directed to a bandpass filter, particularly foruse in an ultra-wide band (UWB) application with an excellentout-of-band rejection, and a process of fabricating the bandpass filter.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, there has been an increased demand of developing the UWBtechnique to realize a high speed data transmission at several hundredsof mega bits per second within a permitted frequency range of 3.1 GHz to10.6 GHz. In order to comply with regulations with regard to the UWBcommunication, a bandpass range is restricted to be 500 MHz or 25% of acentral frequency, and is different from a specific bandpass around 1.6GHz given to the GPS (global positioning system). Therefore, the UWBapplication necessitates a bandpass filter with good near-bandrejection.

Japanese Patent Publication (JP 2005-295316 A) proposes a bandpassfilter available for the UWB application. The proposed bandpass filterincludes a multiplicity of ring resonator. The, ring resonators are setto have different attenuation frequency ranges, and are coupled toobtain a desired wide bandpass. However, since each ring resonator isinherently given a relatively narrow rejection band, the combination ofthe ring resonators is likely to pass undesired frequency or fail toattenuate the undesired frequency to a practically admissible level.Further, since each of the ring resonators is required to have adiameter of up to 1 cm for use in the UWB application, the combinationof the ring resonator occupies a relatively large space and is thereforenot suitable for incorporation into a miniaturized device.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In view of the above problem, the present invention has been achieved toprovide a bandpass filter which is compact and efficient for rejectingout-of-band frequencies. The bandpass filter in accordance with thepresent invention include a bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filter composed ofa plurality of piezoelectric resonators to give a specific frequencybandpass, and a patterned planer filter configured to attenuatefrequencies near and outside the bandpass. The resonators, eachincluding includes a piezoelectric element disposed between a lowerelectrode and an upper electrode, are connected in a ladderconfiguration between a first signal transmission path and a ground toprovide the bandpass. The planar filter includes a strip line structurecomposed of a ground conductor, a dielectric layer on the groundconductor, and a strip line formed on the dielectric layer to define asecond signal transmission path. The strip line is added with at leastone stub composed of a loading segment extending in a spaced relationfrom the strip line and a tap segment extending from said strip line andmerging at an intermediate portion of the loading segment between theopposite lengthwise ends thereof. The BAW filter and the planar filterare formed on a common substrate with the first and second transmissionpaths connected to each other. The BAW filter thus combined with thepatterned planar filter added with the stub can improve a deep near-bandrejection inherent to the BAW filter, exhibiting an excellentout-of-band rejection over certain adjacent frequency ranges outside ofthe bandpass, and therefore give a sharp and wide bandpass. Further, theplanar filter is realized by making the use of the substrate common tothe BAW filter, and is adds only a small space requirement to a compactstructure inherent to the BAW filter, thereby maintaining thecombination bandpass filter sufficiently compact. Especially, theaddition of the stub to the strip line can shorten the length of theplanar filter as well as improve an effect of attenuating theout-of-band frequencies.

Preferably, the dielectric layer of the strip line structure is made ofa dielectric material having a relative dielectric constant of 8 ormore.

For instance, the dielectric layer is made of the same material of thepiezoelectric element of the piezoelectric resonator for the purpose ofreducing the number of materials constituting the combination bandpassfilter for easy fabrication thereof.

In addition, the dielectric layer is preferred to have the samethickness as the piezoelectric element of each resonator for easyfabrication of the combination bandpass filter.

Most preferably, the dielectric material forming the piezoelectricsegment and the dielectric layer is lead zirconate titanate (PZT) whichhas a remarkably high relative dielectric constant of as much as 100 to3000.

The BAW filter may have a plurality of the piezoelectric resonatorswhich are disposed in a two-dimensional arrangement on the substratewhile sharing a single piezoelectric element. For this purpose, the BAWfilter includes a plurality of upper electrodes each being laid over thepiezoelectric element, and a plurality of lower electrodes each disposedunder the piezoelectric element in contact therewith. At least one ofthe upper electrodes is designed to have portions respectivelyoverlapping with two or more different ones of the lower electrodes withcorresponding portions of the piezoelectric element interposedtherebetween, and at least one of the lower electrodes is designed tohave portions respectively overlapping with two or more different onesof the upper electrodes with corresponding portions of the piezoelectricelement interposed therebetween to define a plurality of thepiezoelectric elements which are electrically connected with each otherin a ladder configuration. Thus, a plurality of the piezoelectricresonators can be closely packed within a limited space to make the BAWfilter and the resulting bandpass filter compact.

The present invention also proposes a process of fabricating the abovebandpass filter. In the process, the common substrate is formed thereonwith a first layer of electrically conductive material which is lateretched out to leave the lower electrode for each piezoelectric resonatorand the ground conductor. Then, a seed layer of a specific crystallineorientation is deposited on one part of the first layer, correspondingto the BAW filter. Subsequently, a piezoelectric layer is deposited onthe seed layer and also on the other part of the first layercorresponding to the patterned planar filter. The piezoelectric layer islater etched out to leave the piezoelectric element of each resonator ofthe BAW filter and the dielectric layer of the patterned planar filter.Thereafter, a second layer of electrically conductive material, which islater etched out to leave the upper electrode of each resonator and thestrip line, is formed on the piezoelectric layer to give a laminate.Finally, the resulting laminate is etched out together with the firstand second layers to develop the piezoelectric resonators and the stripline structure on the common substrate. Thus, the BAW filter and thepatterned planar filter are realized on the common substrate whilesharing the piezoelectric layer to form the piezoelectric elements ofthe BAW filter and the dielectric layer of the patterned planar filter.Further, this process makes it easy to have the top surface of the BAWfilter, i.e., the upper electrodes in flush with the strip line of thepatterned planar filter, thereby realizing a smooth flat structure.

The seed layer is preferred to be selected from a material which isdifferent from that of the piezoelectric layer and controls epitaxialgrowth of the piezoelectric layer in order to give a desired attenuationeffect to the BAW filter by restraining lateral oscillations.

In an alternative process, the ground conductor is formed over one partof the substrate and the dielectric layer is formed on the groundconductor and over the other part of the substrate. Then, a first layerof electrically conductive material is deposited on the dielectric layerfollowed by a step of etching the first layer to leave the strip lineand the lower electrode of each of the piezoelectric resonators.Subsequently, a seed layer of a specific crystalline orientation isdeposited on the lower electrode, and a piezoelectric material isdeposited on the seed layer and is caused to develop into thepiezoelectric element having the same crystalline orientation as theseed layer. Thereafter, the upper electrode is formed on eachpiezoelectric element. With this process, the first layer is commonlyutilized to form the lower electrodes of the BAW filter and the stripline structure of the patterned planar filter.

These and still other advantageous features of the present inventionwill become more apparent from the following detailed explanation of thepreferred embodiments when taken in conjunction with the attacheddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bandpass filter in accordance with afirst embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the above bandpass filter

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of the above bandpass filter;

FIGS. 4A to 4D are graphs illustrating attenuation effects outside ofthe bandpass of the present invention in relation to a single BAW filterand a single patterned filter;

FIGS. 5A to 5G are sectional views illustrating steps of fabricating theabove bandpass filter;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view illustrating a modification of the abovebandpass filter;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a bandpass filter in accordance with asecond embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 8A to 8E are sectional views illustrating steps of fabricating theabove bandpass filter;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a bandpass filter in accordance with athird embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the above bandpass filter; and

FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram illustrating a ladder connection of the BAWfilter in the above bandpass filter;

FIG. 12 is a cross section taken along a line X-X of FIG. 10.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a bandpass filter inaccordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. Thebandpass filter is designed for use in the ultra-wide band (UWB)application to have a bandpass in a frequency range of 3.5 GHz to 3.9GHz, for example. The bandpass filter is a combination of a bulkacoustic wave (BAW) filter 2 and a planar patterned filter 4 which areformed on a common substrate 100 which is made of a semiconductormaterial of silicon, for example.

The BAW filter 2 includes a plurality of film bulk acousticpiezoelectric resonators 21 each composed of a piezoelectric element 22disposed between a lower electrode 12 and an upper electrode 32. Theresonators 21 are connected in a ladder configuration, as shown in FIG.3, between a first signal transmission path P1 and a ground to providethe bandpass of the frequency. The substrate 100 is formed in its topsurface with a plurality of cavities 102 disposed in closely adjacentrelation to the piezoelectric element 22 so as to allow each element tooscillate in its thickness direction for the purpose of passing thebandpass frequencies. The cavities 102 are formed by a deep etchingtechnique such as, anisotropic etching or deep-reactive anisotropicetching. The piezoelectric element 22 is made of lead zirconate titanate(PZT) having a relative dielectric constant of 100 to 3000. PZT isselected to have a tetragonal structure of which crystalline orientationof [001] is aligned in the thickness of the element 22 in order toreduce 90° domain and therefore restrain a lateral oscillation mode, forimprove a cut-off characteristic outside of the bandpass, i.e., giving adeep near-band rejection, as shown FIG. 4A. In the figure, a deepattenuation is seen at frequencies immediately outside of the bandpass.As will be discussed later, the PZT having the above specificcrystalline orientation is formed by use of a seed layer on which thepiezoelectric element develops. In the ladder coupling of the resonators21, the each of the resonators 21 have its upper electrode 32 connectedwith the upper electrode or the lower electrode of the adjacentresonator by means of a bridge 33, while the lower electrodes 12 of thetwo resonators are connected to a ground line 13. Although the PZThaving the above specific crystalline structure is preferred, thepiezoelectric material may be AlN, ZnO, or like material having therelative dielectric constant of 8 or more.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the planar patterned filter 4 has a stripline structure composed of a strip line 34, a ground conductor 14, anddielectric layer 24 interposed therebetween. The ground conductor 14 isconnected to the lower electrodes 12 of the two resonators through theground line 13. The dielectric layer 24 is made of the same materialforming the piezoelectric elements 22 to have the same thickness as thepiezoelectric elements. The strip line 34 is formed on the dielectriclayer 24 to define a second signal transmission path P2 which isconnected to the upper electrode 32 of the first signal transmissionpath P1 of the BAW filter 2, i.e., connected through a bridge 35 to theupper electrode 32 of the adjacent resonator 21. The strip line 34defines an output end at its one end opposite to the BAW filter 2, whilethe upper electrode 32 of the resonator remote from the strip line 34defines an input end for receiving the signal. The strip line 34 formedon the dielectric layer 24 has impedance Z₀ as determined by thefollowing equation.

$Z_{0} = {\frac{60}{\sqrt{ɛ_{0}}} \times {\ln \left( {\frac{8}{W/d} + \frac{\left( {W/d} \right)}{4}} \right)}}$

in which ε₀ is an effective relative dielectric constant of thedielectric layer, W is a length of the strip line, and d is a thicknessof the dielectric layer.

The strip line 34 is added with a plurality of generally T-shaped stubseach composed of a loading segment 36 extending in parallel with thestrip line 34, and a tap segment 38 extending from the strip line andmerging at an intermediate portion of the loading segment 36. The tapsegment 38 may be configured to merge at the center of the loadingsegment 36 at a point offset from its center, or even at one lengthwiseend of the loading segment. The loading segment 36 is spaced away fromthe ground conductor 14 to add an open-stub circuit to the strip line.Each of thus formed stub circuits functions as a reactance circuit RC,as shown in FIG. 3, which forms a resonant circuit of attenuating thefrequencies around the resonant frequency. As the dielectric constant ofthe dielectric layer 24 increases, the effect of attenuating thefrequencies around the resonant frequency is obtained at a reducedlength of the tap segment 38. With this result, the use of thedielectric layer 24 having a high relative dielectric constant as muchas 8 or more enables to make the planar patterned filter compact, andtherefore the whole bandpass filter. Particularly, the dielectric layermade of PZT having the relative dielectric constant of 100 to 3000 isresponsible for minimizing the patterned filter. The stub circuits aredesigned to give corresponding resonant circuits having differentresonant frequencies from each other to attenuate the frequencies over awide range, so that the patterned filter 40 alone exhibits a broadcut-off characteristic, as shown in FIG. 4B, of attenuating thefrequencies over a relatively wide range but to a less extent incomparison with that obtained by the BAW filter 2.

However, as shown in FIG. 4C, when thus formed planar patterned filter 4is added to the BAW filter 2, the frequencies outside the near-bandfrequencies can be attenuated to a deeper extent than expected alone bythe BAW filter.

With this result, the combination of the above BAW filter 2 and theplanar patterned filter 4 can attenuate the frequencies outside of thebandpass to a deep extent, thereby realizing superior out-of-bandrejection over a wide range sufficient for use in the UWB communication.

When an attenuator 50 is interposed between the BAW filter 2 and thepatterned filter 4, the above out-of-band rejection is further improved,as shown in FIG. 4D, to flatten the curve at a specific frequency of 3GHz. The attenuator may be configured as a π-type attenuator of giving−3 dB attenuation, for example, and be realized by a resistorincorporated in a coupling line between the strip line 34 and the upperelectrode of the adjacent piezoelectric element 21.

A process of fabricating the bandpass filter is now explained withreference to FIGS. 5A to 5B. The substrate 100 is made of asingle-crystal silicone of which top surface is defined by [100] face ofthe crystalline structure. Firstly, the substrate 100 is thermallyoxidized to form a silicon oxide (SiO2) layer in its top surface, whichis masked by a suitable film and is etched to form the cavities 102 intop of the substrate 100 followed by the silicon oxide layer beingremoved together with the mask, as shown in FIG. 5A. Then, a sacrificelayer 110 is deposited by a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method overthe entire top surface of the substrate 100 including the cavities 102,as shown in FIG. 5B, and the sacrifice layer 110 is polished out by aCMP (chemical mechanical polish) from the top surface of the substrateto remain only in the cavities 102, as shown in FIG. 5C. Subsequently, afirst layer 10 of electrically conductive metal material such as Pt orIr is deposited on the top surface of the substrate 100, as shown inFIG. 5D. The first layer 10 is then etched out to form the groundconductor 14 of the patterned filter 4, the lower electrodes 12 of theBAW filter 2, and the ground line 13, as mentioned in the above. Thefirst layer may be a combination of two or more metal coatings. Next, aseed layer 60 of a piezoelectric material is deposited partly on onepart of the first layer 10 subsequently formed into the BAW filter 2, asshown in FIG. 5E. The seed layer 60 is selected from the piezoelectricmaterial other than that (PZT) constituting the piezoelectric elements22, for example, PbTiO3 or PbLaTiO3, and is deposited by spattering,sol-gel coating, or MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) togive a [001] crystalline orientation. Then, a piezoelectric layer 20 ofPZT is deposited to extend over the seed layer 60 and the exposed firstlayer 10, as shown in FIG. 5F, by spattering, sol-gel coating, or MOCVD,and is sintered at a temperature of about 700° C. to develop into acorresponding crystalline element later formed into the piezoelectricelements 22 which has the same crystalline orientation as that of theseed layer, and the dielectric layer 24 of the patterned filter 4.Thereafter, a second layer 30 of electrically conductive metal same asthe first layer is deposited on the piezoelectric layer 20 to give alaminate structure, as shown in FIG. 5G. Finally, the stack is processedto etch out the dielectric layer 20 and the second layer 30 so as toform the individual piezoelectric elements 22 and the dielectric layer24, and at the same time the upper electrodes 32 of the resonators 21 onthe piezoelectric elements 22, the strip line 34 with the stubs on thedielectric layer 24, and the bridges 33 and 35, thereby providing thebandpass filter having the combination of the BAW filter 2 and thepatterned filter 4 formed on the common substrate 100.

FIG. 6 shows a modification of the above embodiment which is identicalto the above embodiment except that acoustic mirrors 52 are employedinstead of the cavities 12 to provide the individual resonators 21 asSMR (solidly mounted resonator) type. Like parts are designated by likereference numerals for easy recognition, and no duplicate explanation ismade here. The acoustic mirrors 52 are made of tungsten and are embeddedin an additional dielectric section 150 formed by a plurality of siliconoxide layers on the substrate 100.

FIG. 7 shows a bandpass filter in accordance with a second embodiment ofthe present invention which is similar to the above modification of thefirst embodiment except that the lower electrodes 12 of the BAW filter 2and the strip line 34 of the patterned filter 4 are in level with eachother, and are formed from a common metal layer. Like parts aredesignated by like reference numerals and no duplicate explanation ismade herein for simplicity. Steps of fabricating the bandpass filter arenow explained with reference to FIGS. 8A to 8E. First, a plurality ofthin silicon oxide layers are successively superimposed on the siliconsubstrate 100 to build up a dielectric section 150 with the acousticmirrors 52 and the ground conductor 14 being respectively embeddedtherein, as shown in FIG. 8A. Then, a metal layer 10 is deposited on thedielectric section 150, as shown in FIG. 8B, and is subsequently etchedto form the lower electrodes 12 of the individual resonators as well asthe strip line 34, as shown in FIG. 8C. At this step, the dielectricsection 150 is partly etched out in its upper end to form concavities 54between the adjacent areas on which the resonators are later developed,and between the area on which the resonator is later developed and anarea on which the strip line 34 is formed. Then, a seed layer is formedon an area extending over the lower electrodes 12 followed by beingcoated by a piezoelectric material. After the piezoelectric material issintered to have the same crystalline orientation as the seed layer andto incorporate the sinter layer therein, it is masked and etched todevelop the piezoelectric elements 22 respectively on the lowerelectrodes 12, as shown in FIG. 8D. Thereafter, another metal layer isdeposited to extend over the piezoelectric elements and is etched togive the individual upper electrodes 32 as well as the bridges 33 and35, as shown in FIG. 8E. The bridges 33 are formed to interconnect theupper electrode 32 with the adjacent upper electrode 32 or the lowerelectrode 21, while the bridge 35 is formed to interconnect the stripline 34 to the adjacent upper electrode 32.

FIGS. 9 to 12 show a bandpass filter in accordance with a thirdembodiment of the present invention which is basically identical to thefirst embodiment except for its spatial arrangement. Like parts aredesignated by like reference numerals, and no duplicate explanation ismade herein for simplicity. The bandpass filter includes the siliconsubstrate 100 on which the patterned filter and the BAW filter are builtup. In the following description, the piezoelectric resonators, theupper and lower electrodes of the BAW filter are designated differentlythan the previous embodiments only for the sake of easy understanding ofspecific structures of the present embodiment. The substrate 100 isformed with three separate ground layers, first one 10A including theground conductor 14 and two lower electrodes 10B and 10C, a second onedefining the lower electrode 10D, and the last one defining the lowerelectrode 10E. The ground conductor 14 is covered with the dielectriclayer 24 of PZT on which the strip line 34 with a plurality of the stubs36, 38 is deposited to realize the patterned filter.

The BAW filter is designed to include eight piezoelectric resonators R1to R8 which are disposed in a two-dimensional arrangement with a singlepiezoelectric elements 22 common to the resonators, and which areelectrically connected in a ladder configuration as shown in FIG. 11.The piezoelectric element 22 is made from PZT, and is formed to have thesame as the dielectric layer 24. In order to realize the two-dimensionalarrangement of the resonators, four separate upper electrodes 30A, 30B,30C, and 30D are formed to cover corresponding portions of thepiezoelectric element 22 in overlapping relations with the lowerelectrodes 10A to 10E, as will be explained below. The upper electrode30B is formed with two spaced but electrically connected tabs 30B1 and30B2. The upper electrode 30B is stacked on a corresponding part 10F ofthe ground layer 10A integral with the ground conductor 14 to define aground line. The upper electrode 30A is connected at is one end to thestrip line 34 through the attenuator 50 in the form of a poly-siliconresistor, and has the other end in an overlapping relation with thelower electrode 10D with a portion of the dielectric element 23interposed therebetween to realize the resonator R1. The tab 30B1 of theupper electrode 30B overlaps the lower electrode 10D to realize theresonator R2. The upper electrode 30C has three portions overlappingrespectively with different lower electrodes 10D, 10B, and 10C torealize different resonators R3, R4, and R5. The tab 30B2 overlaps withthe lower electrode 10E to realize the resonator R6. The upper electrode30D has two different portions overlapping respectively with the lowerelectrodes 10E and 10C to realize different resonators R7 and R8. Theupper electrode 30D has its one end lowered on the substrate 100 todefine thereat a signal terminal T1. Likewise, the strip line 34 has itsone end lowered ton the substrate 100 to define thereat another signalterminal T2.

The present invention should not be interpreted to the above embodimentsand encompass any combination of the individual features of the aboveembodiments.

1. A bandpass filter comprising: a bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filtercomposed of a plurality of piezoelectric resonators connected in aladder configuration between a first signal transmission path and aground to provide a specific frequency bandpass, each piezoelectricresonator comprising a piezo-electric element disposed between a lowerelectrode and an upper electrode; a patterned planar filter beingconfigured to attenuate frequencies near and outside of said bandpass,said planar filter comprising a strip line structure composed of aground conductor, a dielectric layer on said ground conductor, and astrip line formed on said dielectric layer to define a second signaltransmission path, wherein said strip line being added with at least onestub composed of a loading segment extending in a spaced relation fromsaid strip line, and a tap segment extending from said strip line andmerging at an intermediate portion of said loading segment betweenopposite lengthwise ends thereof, and said BAW filter and said planerfilter are formed on a common substrate with said first and secondsignal transmission paths connected to each other,
 2. A bandpass filteras set forth in claim 1, wherein said dielectric layer of said stripline structure is made of a dielectric material having a relativedielectric constant of 8 or more.
 3. A bandpass filter as set forth inclaim 1, wherein said dielectric layer of said strip line structure ismade of the same material as that of the piezoelectric element of saidpiezoelectric resonator.
 4. A bandpass filter as set forth in claim 1,wherein said dielectric layer of said strip line structure has athickness equal to that of the piezoelectric element of each of saidpiezoelectric resonators.
 5. A bandpass filter as set forth in claim 3,wherein said material is lead zirconate titanate (PZT).
 6. A bandpassfilter as set forth in claim 1, wherein said BAW filter comprises asingle piezoelectric element, a plurality of separate upper electrodeseach being laid over said piezoelectric element, and a plurality ofseparate lower electrodes each disposed under said piezoelectric elementin contact therewith, at least one of said upper electrodes havingportions respectively overlapping with two or more different ones ofsaid lower electrodes with corresponding portions of said piezoelectricelement interposed therebetween, and at least one of said lowerelectrodes having portions respectively overlapping with two or moredifferent ones of said upper electrodes with corresponding portions ofsaid piezoelectric element interposed therebetween so as to define aplurality of said piezoelectric resonators which are disposed in atwo-dimensional arrangement and are electrically connected with eachother in a ladder configuration.
 7. A process of fabricating a bandpassfilter as defined in claim 1, said process comprising the steps of:forming on said substrate a first layer of electrically conductivematerial which is later etched out to leave said lower electrode of eachsaid piezoelectric resonator and said ground conductor on saidsubstrate, depositing a seed layer of a specific crystalline orientationon one part of said first layer; forming a piezoelectric layer on saidseed layer and on the other part of said first layer, saidpiezo-electric layer being later etched out to leave said piezo-electricelements and said dielectric layer; forming a second layer ofelectrically conductive material over said piezo-electric layer to givea laminate structure, said second electrically conductive layer beinglater etched out to leave said upper electrode of each saidpiezoelectric resonator and said strip line; and etching out saidlaminate structure to develop the plurality of said piezoelectricresonators and said strip line structure on said substrate.
 8. A processas set forth in claim 7, wherein said seed layer is selected from amaterial which is different from that of said piezo-electric layer andcontrols epitaxial growth of said piezo-electric layer.
 9. A process offabricating a bandpass filter as defined in claim 1, said processcomprising the steps of: forming said ground conductor over one part ofsaid substrate; forming the dielectric layer on said ground conductorand over the other part of said substrate; depositing a first layer ofelectrically conductive material on said dielectric layer, etching saidfirst layer to leave said strip line and said lower electrode of eachsaid piezoelectric resonator; depositing a seed layer of a specificcrystalline orientation on said lower electrode; depositing apiezoelectric material on said seed layer and developing it into saidpiezoelectric element having the same crystalline orientation as saidseed layer; and forming said upper electrodes on said each piezoelectricelement.